Over the past few months we’ve been detailing the different ways that people will decide to decorate the inside of their home after they’ve covered the outside of it in log cabin siding. We talked about the best way to decorate the great room with rugs and blankets, the bedrooms with western-inspired comforters and lamps, the basement with log railing and stamped metal sconces, and bathrooms with rustic cabinets and chainsaw bear toilet paper holders (!). We even told you how to sell the idea of your garage being more cabin-like.
As we wind down this series, we thought we’d end with one that you might be surprised we haven’t tackled until now: the kitchen. After all, the kitchen is an incredibly popular place in almost every home, one that gets a lot of use throughout the day. Let’s find out the best ways to make your kitchen look its best once the outside of the home has had steel cabin siding installed.
Go Stainless
If you would visit a log cabin from the 19th century, you certainly wouldn’t find a refrigerator. In fact, ice delivery wasn’t even an option for people who were living outside of cities. The most you might find at a log cabin is a root cellar, either underneath it or, more likely, out in the back yard. These underground spaces were cooled by the earth in order to keep fruits and veggies lasting longer. They certainly weren’t cold enough to keep anything frozen!
Fast-forward to the log cabins of today and you’ll notice that nearly every one of them has stainless steel appliances. It’s not that stainless steel necessarily looks more rustic and cabin-like. It’s just that stainless steel tends to cost more, and those who can afford log cabins (and the considerable cost of log cabin maintenance that goes along with them) can often afford nicer appliances. And, when you think about it, stainless steel really does look just as nice as a white refrigerator (or any other color, for that matter. Try finding a brown one to match a log cabin’s walls!)
So yes, stainless steel is often more expensive than traditional appliances. But as stainless appliances have made their way into homes and become more fashionable, the economics of scale has brought the price way down. With the money you save from not building a real log cabin and instead using faux log siding, you’ll certainly be able to afford a little upgrade in your appliance budget!
Get the Right Lighting
When it comes to log cabin kitchens, you’re not going to see many banks of fluorescent lights! That’s because those long fluorescent tubes were simply the cheapest option when the house was built, and replacing them can really go a long way to improving the look of a kitchen.
Instead, make sure to have some nice steel lamps with some tan-frosted shades, the kind you’ll find in just about every log cabin picture here. Of course, the most popular place you’re going to find these is over….
The Island
Islands certainly aren’t something that are unique to log cabins, but you will find kitchen islands in most all of them. Islands are an excellent place to put out food when serving a large number of people, and they are also an ideal place to prep food when you’re cooking (without having your forehead up against the cabinets).
Of course, islands also provide an excellent place to offer casual seating. Simply get a few wrought-iron bar stools and you’ve got a great place to sit when it’s just a few people. Of course, when there are more people than you have bar stools for, you just might want to…
Upgrade The Kitchen Table
We wrote an article about how you could make your dining room look more cabiny now that you have log siding that looks like wood. But not everyone has a dining room, and many of us are eating in the kitchen. No problem! All you have to do is upgrade your kitchen table so that it looks like one you’re more likely to see in a log cabin. Some of you out there might be able to make one, but if you’re not that handy it won’t be too difficult to find one that fits in just perfectly with other upgrades you’re making around the house.
New Cabinets
We often like to say that going with our log cabin siding is an great alternative to building an actual log cabin because of the reduced cost at both the outset and with maintenance. So when we say “replace your cabinets,” there’s no doubt that that’s a big deal and a considerable outlay of money. But when you compare the cost of some real-wood cabins that are crafted specifically for your home, it’s still much less than building a log home (in which you’d have to put new cabinets anyway!). So look around and find a craftsman who can get you those perfect cabinets you’ve always wanted in your kitchen, instead of the so-so ones that you’ve been making do with for years.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this long series about how to make the inside of your home look more like a log cabin after installing our metal siding. You might do a little bit at a time, tackle one room before another, or go all out and remodel your entire interior. Either way, it’s a great way to make your home feel more like you’re living in a log cabin than ever before. It’s your home…have fun!
